Fine Again
by alightintheshadows
Summary: A simple injury leads Aizawa to learn about Izuku's struggles. Parental!Aizawa. Warnings: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm.


**Hello! I am fairly new to the fandom, but I thought I would give writing fanfiction for it a shot! I hope you all enjoy it! Basically this came from the idea of Izuku being bullied worse than he was for not having a quirk.**

 **Warning: Mentions of self-harm. It does not actually happen in this fic, but the topic will be addressed.**

 **I do not own My Hero Academia.**

Izuku fiddled with his sleeve before resuming his usual scribbling, desperately hanging on to every word his teacher spoke. He was so absorbed in his notes, he barely noticed the bell.

"And with that, class is dismissed," Aizawa announced.

The students of Class 1-A rose from their seats and filed out the door. Slinging his backpack on, Izuku continued writing as he made to follow his classmates.

"Except for you, Midoriya."

Aizawa's words made him freeze in his tracks. He glanced back to his teacher, then back at the door where Tenya and Ochako were standing.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Ochako asked.

"That's all right," he said, giving his friends a nervous wave. "Just save me a seat in the cafeteria!"

They both nodded before leaving to join the rest of the class for lunch. Izuku fully turned to face Aizawa.

"What did you need to speak to me about, sir?" he asked timidly.

"Set down your backpack and notebook," Aizawa said, moving out from behind his podium.

Izuku's brow furrowed, but he did as his teacher instructed. The erasure hero now stood before him, and he had to do his best not to instinctively back away.

"What's wrong with your hand?"

"I d-don't know what you mean!" Izuku stammered.

It took him a minute to register what he was asked until he followed Aizawa's eyes down to his left wrist.

He'd actually forgotten about the gauze wrapped around his hand. For the most part, his sleeve covered his makeshift bandage. Enough so that none of his other classmates seemed to notice. It must have slipped when he was collecting his things at the end of class. Now, he could see a dark red seeping through the gauze.

When he automatically moved to pull down his sleeve, a firm hand was already there. Silently, his teacher unwound the bandage. He barely noticed it, but he could see Aizawa's eyes darken at the sight of fresh blood flowing from the heel of his palm and trickling down his arm and on to the floor. The man instantly brought him around the podium. He watched with wide eyes as his teacher knelt down and pulled out a first aid kit from within.

Tossing the bloody gauze away, Aizawa rummaged through the contents of the kit. Pulling out a cloth and some rubbing alcohol, he turned back to his student and rolled up Izuku's sleeve.

"If you're going to dress your own wounds, you need to at least do it properly," he reprimanded. He wiped away the blood running down Izuku's arm. "Did you even disinfect the cut? From the looks of it, I would say not. Now, I want to know what you…."

Izuku looked up when his teacher stopped talking. Aizawa leaned in even closer, his thumb tracing over a faded white scar on his forearm.

The young boy instinctively tried to yank his arm away. He immediately racked his brain for some sort of explanation.

 _I tripped and scraped my arm._

 _I got scratched by a cat._

 _The scar just hasn't gone away yet._

But it was too late. Aizawa had already laid his eyes on the second scar…and the third.

"Midoriya…."

He couldn't do anything but watch as the man's gaze slowly drifted along the cuts on his arm, quietly taking in the evidence of what he'd done. It may not have been many, and they might be so old that they had almost faded completely.

But they were still there.

The silence between the two was suffocating.

 _Is he going to yell at me?_

 _Is he going to expel me?_

It may have only been a few seconds, but it seemed to have lasted an eternity for the young boy. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Mr. Aizawa?" he asked, hoping his teacher would say something.

Anything.

Wordlessly, the erasure hero let go of his arm and walked across his classroom, shutting the door instantly.

 _He's definitely going to yell at me._

Aizawa returned to his student. He grabbed a smaller cloth from the first aid kit and poured a little rubbing alcohol on it.

Izuku flinched when his teacher disinfected the slice on his hand. Thankfully, the sting didn't last long. Aizawa placed a soft cloth on the cut and carefully wrapped gauze around his hand, but more securely than his original bandage. Once Aizawa was done, he packed away the first aid kit and nodded toward the desk closest to them.

"Sit."

Hesitantly, Izuku forced himself to move and sit down at the desk. Unconsciously, he adjusted his sleeve, pulling it down. His teacher leaned against his podium, arms crossed and his expression unreadable.

Izuku's heart pounded. He knew what everyone said about Eraserhead. He was the toughest teacher at this school and had absolutely no problems with expelling students. The man was such a strong hero.

There was no way he would tolerate something like this.

The young boy grew more and more tense with each passing second Aizawa remained silent. He was certain this was the calm before the storm. The man would start yelling at him at any moment. The man would expel him.

He was just waiting.

 _How could you do something like that to yourself?_

 _Someone so weak should never have set foot into this school._

 _Someone so weak doesn't deserve my teaching._

 _Someone so weak can never be a hero._

"Can you tell me why?"

Aizawa's voice jolted him out of his thoughts, but he wasn't sure he heard is teacher correctly. He looked up to meet Aizawa's gaze. It wasn't the usual stern look he'd come to associate with the man.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"Can you tell me why?" the man patiently repeated.

Izuku blinked.

 _Not "how could you be so stupid?"_

 _Not "how could you do something like that?"_

There was something in Aizawa's voice. Something in his tone just completely changed the meaning of the question.

He wasn't asking "can you tell me _why?"_

He was asking " _can_ you tell me why?

"If you can't, I understand," Aizawa continued. "I just want you to know that this will remain between us. If there was anything I could do that would help, I would like to know."

Izuku looked down at the desk, biting his lip briefly.

"I c-can but…it's…it's stupid…."

"It's certainly not."

His teacher's immediate response caused him to snap his head back up. One look at his teacher let him know that the man was completely serious, as he usually was. Somehow, he expected otherwise for this sort of discussion.

He was definitely grateful he was wrong.

"Well," he started, scratching the back of his head, "as you already know, I was born without a quirk. It wasn't exactly easy growing up. When I was little, I was mostly teased a lot. That was fine…but as I got older, it went…beyond that."

He met Aizawa's gaze. His teacher simply nodded, urging him to continue.

"Some of my classmates would beat me up after school, but some of the things they said were even worse. Some would call me worthless. Some would ask me why I was still here. They said it was pointless to live without a quirk. I could handle it for a while, but eventually…it just got to me and I actually started to believe it."

Aizawa took a deep breath. Kids could certainly be cruel. He remembered that from his time in school. Sadly, it seemed bullying just got worse with each generation. That evidence was definitely supported by what his student just shared with him.

"Did any of your teachers do anything?"

Izuku tensed and shook his head.

"No. I tried talking to them about it, but all they told me was that bullying wasn't tolerated at school. If they didn't see or hear it, they couldn't do anything about it. I understand that they can't know everything going on at school, but…I still wish they could have done something."

Aizawa nearly groaned. It was easy to say that bullying wasn't tolerated when you were completely oblivious to the extent that it had evolved. He knew they probably meant well, but that couldn't stop the anger boiling within him.

They weren't even aware of nor did they understand the consequences of their ignorance.

"I know I should have talked to my mom about it," Izuku continued. Aizawa couldn't help but be relieved that the kid didn't need to be prompted to keep talking. "It might have helped…but I just _couldn't._ She was already devastated enough when she found out I didn't have a quirk. She constantly asked me about how the kids at school were treating me. She was so scared because I was the only kid in my class without a quirk. There was a part of me that wanted to make her think I was okay. I still feel guilty about it, but I told her I was part of the martial arts club at school so she wouldn't worry quite as much if I came home with a black eye or a bloody nose. She would be so upset if she knew what was really happening. I…I just didn't know what else to do."

There was a moment of silence between the two before Aizawa spoke, just in case his student wasn't finished.

"So you never told anyone?"

He blinked rapidly and shook his head, as if that would stop his eyes from watering. It only made it worse and the first tear streamed down his cheek. He looked back down at the desk as the tears kept falling.

Surely Aizawa would kick him out now.

"How long ago was this?"

He sniffled before wiping his eyes.

"It's b-been over a year since I last did it. Right when I met…."

He trailed off before he could say too much.

"All Might?"

He tensed, but nodded. He slowly looked back up to meet his teacher's gaze. He was well aware that Eraserhead definitely respected All Might as a hero, but didn't exactly think the Symbol of Peace was fit to be a teacher. Whatever his personal feelings were toward the man, Aizawa seemed to have put them aside.

"H-how'd you know?" he asked.

A gentle grin spread across Aizawa's face.

"Lucky guess."

Izuku swallowed before continuing.

"After talking with him, I don't quite understand it, but I didn't feel worthless. None of what my classmates said to me mattered anymore. I know I shouldn't have felt that way in the first place and it shouldn't have taken talking with All Might to—"

"Izuku."

The use of his first name caught the boy's attention. He wasn't sure if he'd ever heard his teacher call any of his students by their first name before.

"No one should ever have to go through being told they're worthless or that there isn't a point for them to live. Don't think for a second that you shouldn't have felt the way that you did."

Izuku's lips set into a grim line.

"Part of me knows that…but I know nothing can excuse…."

He couldn't get himself to finish the sentence. He buried his face in his hands. He could hear Aizawa stepping closer to the desk. When he looked up, he saw his teacher crouching down so they were eye-level.

"Is that why you push yourself so hard in your training? No matter how much it hurts?"

Izuku shook his head.

"No, not at all. I actually haven't felt the need to since…since I stopped. I'm still just getting used to my quirk."

Aizawa let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Izuku could practically feel the relief emanating from his teacher, but that didn't do anything to relieve his own tension.

"I'm glad to hear—"

"Why aren't you saying it?" the young boy blurted out.

Aizawa's eyes widened and his brow furrowed at the outburst. Izuku looked back down at the desk, suddenly ashamed for raising his voice, but that didn't stop him from continuing.

"Why aren't you telling me how stupid I am to even think about doing that to myself? Why aren't you telling me that I'm weak to resort to cutting?" He clenched his eyes shut, feeling the tears that managed to escape flow down his cheeks. "Why aren't you telling me that I can never be a hero because of this?"

He thought the tears would eventually stop, but they still kept flowing no matter how hard he tried to keep them in.

 _Maybe I'm not as okay as I thought I was._

He brought a hand up to wipe them away, but stopped when a firm hand landed on his shoulder. It took him a few tries to really get his breathing back under control. When he finally opened his eyes and blinked the blurriness away, he was met with very small smile from his teacher, yet it was somehow the warmest smile anyone had ever given him.

"Because none of that is true."

Izuku opened his mouth before immediately shutting it again. He could only stare at his teacher.

"This," Aizawa said as he reached down to gently tapped his arm, "is not okay, but _you're_ okay. This doesn't make you stupid. This doesn't make you weak. This doesn't define you, Izuku. You need to understand that."

The young boy glanced down to his arm and swallowed before trying to speak.

"B-but I…."

"Back then, you didn't have someone you could turn to. I don't like that it came to this, but I understand why it did. Now, things are different. For any reason at all, no matter how small you think it might be, you can come talk to me."

Izuku stared up at his teacher with wide eyes.

 _Does he really mean that?_

 _This has to be some sort of joke._

"If it's a matter that involves one of your classmates, I highly encourage you to come talk to me. We'll figure out how to address the situation together, all right?"

 _But…Mr. Aizawa never jokes around. Why would he start with something like this?_

He'd avoided looking the erasure hero directly in the eye unless he absolutely had to during this talk, but he had to now. His gaze met his teacher's.

"All right?" Aizawa repeated.

Something gleamed in Aizawa's eyes, and Izuku's mouth nearly dropped open at the sight.

The two may not have gotten off on quite the right foot when he first enrolled at UA. Eraserhead had definitely lived up to his reputation. He was strict. He was even a little harsh on occasion. However, there was one thing Izuku always knew, but never understood the fullest extent of what it meant until now.

 _I can trust Mr. Aizawa._

He couldn't stop staring into the man's eyes.

 _There's…hope._

 _He hopes I'll believe him. He hopes I'll trust him to actually take him up on his offer._

 _He really means it._

"All right."

He could see his teacher's shoulders sag a bit, as if his answer lifted a massive weight off of them.

"Good."

Izuku unconsciously reached up to wipe his eyes, but found that he had no reason to. He couldn't stop the smile that was slowly spreading across his features.

"Now, do you mind telling me what you did to your hand?"

The young boy let out a nervous laugh and glanced down at his bandage. He'd nearly forgotten about it.

"I was just in a rush this morning and accidentally cut my hand as I was slicing up some fruit for breakfast. I thought I was going to be late for class, so I just grabbed some gauze and tried to bandage it on my way here."

Aizawa shook his head as he walked back over to his podium and started organizing his lecture notes.

"I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious, but do try to be more careful in the future." He looked up at the clock, Izuku's stomach growling almost on cue. "Unless you brought something with you, I suggest you get to the cafeteria before lunch ends."

Izuku stood up at the dismissal and put on his backpack, the smile never leaving his face. He walked over to the door. He stopped the second his hand was on the handle and glanced back at his teacher. Aizawa glanced up from his notes and noticed him staring.

"Is there something—"

He grunted instead of finishing the question when a blur barreled into him and wrapped its arms tight around his waist.

"Thank you, Mr. Aizawa."

The erasure hero sighed, but it wasn't out of annoyance as it normally was nowadays due to the shenanigans of his students and coworkers. While he didn't normally like such contact, he didn't dare push his student away. Instead, he placed a hand gently on top of Izuku's head.

"You're welcome."

With that, Izuku let go and left the classroom. He hurried through the halls until he reached the cafeteria. Ochako's eyes widened and she waved when he arrived. He quickly grabbed a tray of food and made his way toward the rest of his friends. Tenya turned around and waved to him as he approached their table.

"Hello, Midoriya," the class representative greeted. "What's got you in such a good mood? I didn't think you would be after Mr. Aizawa holding you back."

"Yeah. What did Mr. Aizawa talk to you about, anyway?"

Izuku turned his eyes down to his tray, but he lifted his left hand to show them the bandage.

"He just noticed I cut my hand earlier this morning and didn't bandage it well, so he helped patch me up."

Tenya rolled his eyes and grinned.

"You have to be more careful, Deku!" Ochako laughed.

Izuku smiled.

"I know. Mr. Aizawa said the same thing."

That smile didn't waver all through lunch, even when the rest of his classmates teased him for his klutzy accident that morning.

 _Mr. Aizawa really did help patch me up…in more ways than one._

 **Well, there it is! I hope you enjoyed it! I hope this wasn't too OOC given the situation or anything. As this is my first fanfic for this fandom, constructive criticism is absolutely welcome as I want to improve writing these characters and write future fics. Anyways, thanks for reading!**

 **Until next time,**

 **alightintheshadows**


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